A SMOKE detector costing just a few pounds saved a family from disaster.

A SMOKE detector costing just a few pounds saved a family from disaster.

The Johnson family believe they owe their lives to the #3 fire alarm which alerted them to the blaze which gutted their dormer bungalow in Hayes Drive, Barnton on Thursday.

Thanks to the piercing shriek from the alarm, Dave and Stephanie Johnson, their two children, Kate, seven, and Hannah, four, and Stephanie's mum Shirley Hayes escaped unscathed.

'We wouldn't have known a thing about the fire without the alarm,' said Dave.

'At 10pm I heard the smoke alarm in the girls' bedroom going off and went upstairs to check on it, thinking it was a false alarm.

'But when I got there I found the smoke. We got the children and my mother-in-law out and waited at the top of the drive for the fire brigade.

'They told us later we probably only had about two minutes to get out, so that alarm saved our girls.'

When firefighters arrived the flames were shooting out of the roof and the windows.

Leading firefighter Eric Davies agreed the alarm had saved the day. He added: 'It if hadn't been for the smoke alarm it would have been 100 times worse because we could have been looking at fatalities.

'This is a prime example of of how important it is to fit a smoke detector.'

The fire started in the roof space and spread rapidly. Within minutes the roof had collapsed sending debris showering through ceilings into the rooms below. The children's bedroom in the dormer was completely destroyed in the inferno.

Mr Davies added: 'Everyone was in bed at the time, the children in the dormer bedroom, and the adults in bedrooms on the ground floor. Fortunately mum and dad heard the alarm, came out to investigate and saw smoke at the top of the stairs.

'They got granny and the kids out and when they turned round virtually the whole roof had gone. The bedroom where the children had been asleep was completely destroyed.'

Nobody was hurt in the blaze and the Johnsons are now staying with friends.

'I would like to thank the fire brigade and their support team, the Red Cross and our friends and neighbours who have helped us out,' said Dave.

'That smoke alarm cost about #3 and was the best investment I've ever made.

'It saved my family's lives and also saved the house next door.

'If anybody hearing our story doesn't have a smoke alarm, I would strongly urge them to buy one.'